Internet Explorer 9
Encyclopedia
Windows Internet Explorer 9 (abbreviated as IE9) is the current version of the Internet Explorer
web browser
from Microsoft
. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011 at 21:00 PDT. Internet Explorer 9 supports several CSS 3 properties, embedded ICC
v2 or v4 color profiles
support via Windows Color System
, and has improved JavaScript
performance. It is the last of the five major web browser
s to implement support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). It also features hardware-accelerated
graphics rendering using Direct2D
, hardware-accelerated text rendering using DirectWrite
, hardware-accelerated video rendering using Media Foundation
, imaging support provided by Windows Imaging Component
, and high fidelity printing powered by the XML Paper Specification (XPS) print pipeline.
Internet Explorer 9 also supports the HTML5 video
and audio tags and the Web Open Font Format
. Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 9 as a major out-of-band version that is not tied to the release schedule of any particular version of Windows, unlike previous versions.
The system requirements for Internet Explorer 9 are Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
, Windows Vista
Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 with the Platform Update. Windows XP
and earlier are not supported. Internet Explorer 9 is the last version of Internet Explorer to be supported on Windows Vista; Internet Explorer 10
will only be supported on Windows 7 and later. Both 32-bit
and 64-bit
builds are available.
was released. Microsoft began taking features suggestions through Microsoft Connect soon after Internet Explorer 8 was released. The Internet Explorer team focused on improving support for HTML5, CSS3, SVG, XHTML
, and the user interface featuring agility and "a clean new design".
Microsoft first announced Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009
and spoke mainly about how it takes advantage of hardware acceleration in DirectX
to improve the performance of web applications and improve the quality of web typography
.
Later, Microsoft announced that they had joined the W3C's SVG Working Group
, which sparked speculation that Internet Explorer 9 will support the SVG W3C recommendation
. This was proven to be true at MIX 10, where they demonstrated support for basic SVG markup and improved support for HTML5. They also announced that they would increase the support greatly by the time the first Internet Explorer 9 Beta was released. The Internet Explorer team also introduced the new JavaScript engine for 32-bit Internet Explorer 9, codenamed Chakra, which uses Just-in-time compilation
to execute JavaScript as native code. In mid-September 2011, the Acid3 test was revised to remove a few "antiquated and unusual" tests and as a result IE9 now passes the test with a score of 100/100
At MIX 10, the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured support for CSS3 and SVG, a new JavaScript
engine called Chakra, and a score of 55/100 on the Acid3
test, up from 20/100 for Internet Explorer 8
. On May 5, 2010, the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 68/100 on the Acid3
test and faster performance on the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark
than the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On June 23, 2010, the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 83/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. The third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview also includes support for HTML5 audio, video, and canvas tags, and WOFF. On August 4, 2010, the fourth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which features a score of 95/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On September 15, 2010, the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta was released alongside Platform Preview 5, featuring a new user interface. In contrast to the previews, the Beta replaces any previously installed version of Internet Explorer. The sixth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on October 28, 2010, and includes support for CSS3 2D transforms and HTML5 semantic elements. The seventh Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on November 17, 2010, and features better JavaScript performance.
These previews were not full builds of Internet Explorer 9, as they were for testing the latest version of the Trident
layout engine. They were for web developers to send feedback on the improvements made, functioned in parallel with any other installed browsers, and were previews of the renderer technology only, containing minimalistic user interfaces and lacking traditional interface elements such as an address bar and navigation buttons. Microsoft updated these previews approximately every eight weeks.
On November 23, 2010, two updates for the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta were released. KB2448827 brings improvements to reliability and fixes stability issues from the previous beta release. There are not much details of resolved issues disclosed by Microsoft. Moreover, KB2452648 resolves the in-built feedback issue with Internet Explorer 9 and the latest version of Windows Live Sign-in Assistant. These updates can be fetched from Windows Update
or the Microsoft Download Center website. On the same day, Internet Explorer build 9.0.8027.6000 based on Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 7 was leaked. On February 10, 2011, the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate and Platform Preview 8 were released. The Release Candidate version featured improved performance, a Tracking Protection feature, a refined UI, support for more web standards, and other improvements.
The final version of Internet Explorer 9 was publicly released on March 14, 2011 during the South by Southwest
(SXSW) music and film festival in Austin, Texas.
In Microsoft's preliminary SunSpider benchmarks for the third 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, it outperformed the Internet Explorer 8 engine by a factor of 10 and also outperformed the newest Firefox 4.0 pre-release. Microsoft provided information that its new javascript engine uses dead code elimination
optimization for faster performance, which included a small section of code in the SunSpider test as dead code. Robert Sayre, a Mozilla developer investigated this further, showing that Internet Explorer 9's preview 3 dead code elimination had bugs, providing test cases exposing these bugs resulting in wrong compilation.
After its final release, 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 has been tested to be the leading mainstream browser in the Sunspider performance test.
The engine significantly improves support for ECMA-262: ECMAScript
Language Specification standard, including features new to the recently finalized Fifth Edition of ECMA-262 (often abbreviated ES5). The Internet Explorer 9 browser release scored only 3 faults from 10440 tests in the Test262 Ecmascript conformace test (Ver. 0.6.2 5-Apr-2011) created by Ecma International
.
The 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 9, which is not the default browser even on 64-bit systems, does not have the JIT compiler and performs up to 4 times slower.
improvements include:
(CSS) support. The Internet Explorer 9 implementation report, which was created using Internet Explorer 9 Beta, shows Internet Explorer 9 passing 97.7% of all tests on the W3C CSS 2.1 test suite. This is the highest pass rate amongst CSS 2.1 implementation reports submitted to W3C.
CSS3 improvements include support for the following modules:
The audio tag will include native support for the MP3
and AAC
codecs, while the video tag
will natively support H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
. Support for other video formats, such as WebM
, will require third-party plugins.
SVG elements that are supported in the Platform Preview are fully implemented. Elements that exist in the Platform Preview have corresponding SVGDOM support and can be styled with CSS/presentation attributes.
The final build of Internet Explorer 9 also supports:
(EOT) format, and lacked support for parts of the CSS3 fonts module. Internet Explorer 9 completed support for the CSS3 fonts module and added WOFF
support.
Internet Explorer 9 supports two methods of tracking protection. The primary method is through the use of Tracking Protection Lists (TPL) which are now supplied by internet privacy
-related organizations or companies. Tracking Protection by default remains on once enabled, unlike InPrivate Filtering which had to be enabled each time Internet Explorer 8 started. When a TPL is selected, Internet Explorer 9 blocks or allows third-party URI downloads based on rules in the TPL. Users can create their personal TPL's or select a TPL supplied by a third party.
The other method is the use of a Do Not Track header
and DOM property. Browser requests from Internet Explorer 9 include this header whenever a TPL is selected. Websites that follow this header should not deliver tracking mechanisms in their websites. At the moment following this header is a voluntary code of conduct but this method could in future be enforced by government legislation.
These tracking protection methods were submitted to W3C for standardization.
/NSX protection, Safe Exception handlers (SafeSEH) and ASLR
protection used in Internet Explorer 8.
In addition to those existing forms of memory protection
, Internet Explorer 9 now opts-in to SEHOP (Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection) which works by validating the integrity of the exception handling chain before dispatching exceptions. This helps ensure that structured exception handling cannot be used as an exploit vector, even when running outdated browser add-ons that have not been recompiled to take advantage of SafeSEH.
In addition, Internet Explorer 9 is compiled with the new C++ compiler provided with Visual Studio 2010. This compiler includes a feature known as Enhanced GS, also known as Stack Buffer Overrun
Detection, which helps prevent stack buffer overruns by detecting stack corruption and avoiding execution if such corruption is encountered.
Internet Explorer 8 used SmartScreen technology, which, according to Microsoft, was successful against phishing or other malicious sites and in blocking of socially engineered
malware. In Internet Explorer 9, the protection against malware downloads is extended with SmartScreen Application Reputation. This warns downloaders if they are downloading an application without a safe reputation from a site that does not have a safe reputation.
In late 2010, the results of browser malware testing undertaken by NSS labs were published. The study looked at the browser's capability to prevent users following socially engineered
links of a malicious nature and downloading malicious software. It did not test the browser's ability to block malicious web pages or code.
According to NSS, Internet Explorer 9 blocked 99% of malware downloads compared to 90% for Internet Explorer 8 that does not have SmartScreen Application Reputation feature.
In early 2010, similar tests gave Internet Explorer 8 an 85% passing grade, the 5% improvement being attributed to "continued investments in improved data intelligence". By comparison, the same research showed that Chrome 6, Firefox 3.6 and Safari 5, which all rely on Google's Safe Browsing Service, scored 6%, 19% and 11%, respectively. Opera 10 scored 0%, failing to "detect any of the socially engineered malware samples".
Manufacturers of other browsers criticized the test, focusing upon the lack of transparency of URLs tested and the lack of consideration of layered security
additional to the browser, with Google
commenting that "The report itself clearly states that it does not evaluate browser security related to vulnerabilities in plug-ins or the browsers themselves", and Opera
commenting that the results appeared "odd that they received no results from our data providers" and that "social malware protection is not an indicator of overall browser security".
Internet Explorer 9's dual-pronged approach to blocking access to malicious URLs—SmartScreen Filter to block bad URLs, and Application Reputation to detect untrustworthy executables—provides the best socially engineered malware blocking of any stable browser version. Internet Explorer 9 blocked 92 percent of malware with its URL-based filtering, and 100 percent with Application-based filtering enabled. Internet Explorer 8, in second place, blocked 90 percent of malware. Tied for third place were Safari 5, Chrome 10, and Firefox 4, each blocking just 13 percent. Bringing up the rear was Opera 11, blocking just 5 percent of malware.
(UA) string. The
identifiers or other "pre-platform" and "post-platform" tokens that were sent by previous versions of the browser. The extended string is still available to websites via the browser's .userAgent property, and is sent when a web page page is displayed in compatibility mode
.
and toolbar
s remain the same. Not loading BHOs or toolbars improves startup time, but limits the ability of developers to augment the user experience through these extensibility mechanisms.
Noting that according to Net Applications
, Internet Explorer's share fell to 56% in January 2011, the BBC
quoted Microsoft's claims that Internet Explorer 9 is "playing catch up, but it leapfrogs everything" and "you are seeing innovation after innovation that other folks are catching up to."
In The Register
, Tim Anderson said Internet Explorer 9 was Microsoft's answer to the fall in Internet Explorer's market share (from 68.5% in July 2008 to 46% in January 2011, according to StatCounter
). He felt it was "fast and polished", a "remarkable improvement" over version 8, noting "superb" development tools and "real and significant" support for HTML5, though "not as comprehensive as the company's publicity implies." However, configuration options are "strewn all over the user interface", and the "distinctive and excellent" ActiveX
filtering and Tracking Protection
features might be "perplexing for less technical users." Having reached release candidate status eleven months after it was originally announced at the March 2010 MIX conference
, "Microsoft's development process is too slow." The new version is "a good modern browser" but "the competition is moving faster."
Computing
observed that "the feature set has piled up" since development began, with recent changes including "a completely rejigged JavaScript engine, and far better web standards support." It reported that Internet Explorer 9 RC ranked above Firefox, slightly above Safari, and below Chrome and Opera on Futuremark
's Peacekeeper browser benchmark. Internet Explorer 9 scored 95% on the unofficial Acid3
standards test.
Michael Muchmore's first impressions in PC Magazine
were broadly positive, praising features of the InPrivate mode (which "I'm surprised other browser makers haven't included") and concluding that Internet Explorer 9's tracking protection was "more flexible and comprehensive" than Mozilla's. The review reported that Internet Explorer 9 "now wins the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark" and had achieved "a hefty improvement" on Google's JavaScript benchmark – though it was still far behind Chrome 9. However "in normal browsing, I was hard pressed to see a [performance] difference between Chrome and Internet Explorer." The release candidate was also "perfectly" compatible with far more sites than the beta, but there are still issues with some sites because their developers are not yet testing with the new browser. The RC scores 4 out of 5 ("very good") for now.
Blogging his March 2011 performance tests for ZDNet
, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes concluded that Chrome
10, Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit) Final Release, Opera
11.01 and Firefox 4's Release candidate were "pretty evenly matched.... Microsoft has worked hard on IE, taking it from being the slowest in the pack to one of the fastest. Bottom line, I really don’t think that JavaScript performance is an issue any more, and certainly in real-world testing it’s hard to see a difference between the browsers."
On 31 October 2011, PC World
ranked Internet Explorer 9 as #19 on its 100 Best Products of 2011. The other web browser listed was Maxthon
3.1, a hybrid browser based on Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. PC World praised for its performance.
, Steve Ballmer
announced a major update to Windows Phone 7
due towards the end of 2011, which will include a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 that supports the same web standards (e.g. HTML5) and hardware accelerated graphics as the PC version. Microsoft demonstrated hardware-accelerated performance of a fish-tank demo using a development build of mobile Internet Explorer 9 compared with slow performance on the November 2010 iOS 4.2.1 RTM of Safari on iPhone 4.
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011 at 21:00 PDT. Internet Explorer 9 supports several CSS 3 properties, embedded ICC
International Color Consortium
The International Color Consortium was formed in 1993 by eight industry vendors in order to create a universal color management system that would function transparently across all operating systems and software packages....
v2 or v4 color profiles
ICC profile
In color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium...
support via Windows Color System
Windows Color System
Windows Color System is a platform for color management first included with Windows Vista that aims to achieve color consistency across various software and hardware, including cameras, monitors, printers and scanners. Different devices interpret the same colors differently, according to their...
, and has improved JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
performance. It is the last of the five major web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s to implement support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). It also features hardware-accelerated
Hardware acceleration
In computing, Hardware acceleration is the use of computer hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the general-purpose CPU...
graphics rendering using Direct2D
Direct2D
Direct2D is a 2D and vector graphics application programming interface designed by Microsoft and implemented in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and also Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and Platform Update Supplement for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008 & KB2505189 update...
, hardware-accelerated text rendering using DirectWrite
DirectWrite
DirectWrite is a text-layout and glyph-rendering API by Microsoft. It was designed to replace GDI/GDI+ and Uniscribe for screen-oriented rendering and was shipped with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as well as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 DirectWrite is a text-layout and...
, hardware-accelerated video rendering using Media Foundation
Media Foundation
Microsoft Media Foundation is a COM-based multimedia framework pipeline and infrastructure platform for digital media in Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8...
, imaging support provided by Windows Imaging Component
Windows Imaging Component
The Windows Imaging Component is a Component Object Model based imaging codec framework introduced in Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 3 for working with and processing digital images and image metadata...
, and high fidelity printing powered by the XML Paper Specification (XPS) print pipeline.
Internet Explorer 9 also supports the HTML5 video
HTML5 video
HTML5 video is an element introduced in the HTML5 draft specification for the purpose of playing videos or movies, partially replacing the object element...
and audio tags and the Web Open Font Format
Web Open Font Format
The Web Open Font Format is a font format for use in web pages. It was developed during 2009 and is in the process of being standardized as a recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium Web Fonts Working Group....
. Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 9 as a major out-of-band version that is not tied to the release schedule of any particular version of Windows, unlike previous versions.
The system requirements for Internet Explorer 9 are Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009 and launched on October 22, 2009. According to the Windows Server Team blog, the retail availability was September 14, 2009. It is built on Windows NT 6.1, the same core...
, Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 with the Platform Update. Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and earlier are not supported. Internet Explorer 9 is the last version of Internet Explorer to be supported on Windows Vista; Internet Explorer 10
Internet Explorer 10
Windows Internet Explorer 10 is the next version of Internet Explorer currently being developed by Microsoft, and the successor to Internet Explorer 9. On April 12, 2011, Microsoft released the first "IE10 Platform Preview", which only runs on Windows 7; later platform previews only run on Windows 8...
will only be supported on Windows 7 and later. Both 32-bit
IA-32
IA-32 , also known as x86-32, i386 or x86, is the CISC instruction-set architecture of Intel's most commercially successful microprocessors, and was first implemented in the Intel 80386 as a 32-bit extension of x86 architecture...
and 64-bit
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
builds are available.
Release history
| Name | Build | Release Date | Acid3 Acid3 Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript.... Score |
New notable features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 1 | 1.9.7745.6019 | 2010-03-16 | 55/100 | Support for CSS3 and SVG and a new JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.... engine called Chakra. |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 2 | 1.9.7766.6000 | 2010-05-05 | 68/100 | Better JavaScript performance. |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 3 | 1.9.7874.6000 | 2010-06-23 | 83/100 | HTML5 audio Comparison of layout engines (HTML5 Media) The HTML5 draft specification defines several tags which allow video and audio to be included natively and semantically in HTML markup. This page compares support for aspects of this specification among layout engines.-Element attributes:... , video HTML5 video HTML5 video is an element introduced in the HTML5 draft specification for the purpose of playing videos or movies, partially replacing the object element... , and canvas tags, and WOFF Web Open Font Format The Web Open Font Format is a font format for use in web pages. It was developed during 2009 and is in the process of being standardized as a recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium Web Fonts Working Group.... . |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 4 | 1.9.7916.6000 | 2010-08-04 | 100/100 | JavaScript engine integrated into the core browser components. |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 5 | 1.9.7930.16406 | 2010-09-15 | New icon. | |
| Internet Explorer 9 Beta | 9.0.7930.16406 | New user interface. | ||
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 6 | 1.9.8006.6000 | 2010-10-28 | CSS3 2D transforms and HTML5 semantic tags. | |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 7 | 1.9.8023.6000 | 2010-11-17 | Better JavaScript performance. | |
| Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 8 | 1.9.8080.16413 | 2011-02-10 | Performance, interoperability enhancements, and support for the W3C Geolocation API W3C Geolocation API The W3C Geolocation API is an effort by the World Wide Web Consortium to standardize an interface to retrieve the geographical location information for a client-side device... . |
|
| Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate | 9.0.8080.16413 | Improved performance, InPrivate Filtering renamed to Tracking Protection, a refined UI, support for more web standards, the option to add a new tab row, and other improvements. | ||
| Internet Explorer 9 | 9.0.8112.16421 | 2011-03-14 | Improved performance, improved Tracking Protection, and the option to pin multiple targets per page. |
Development
Development of Internet Explorer 9 began shortly after Internet Explorer 8Internet Explorer 8
Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available...
was released. Microsoft began taking features suggestions through Microsoft Connect soon after Internet Explorer 8 was released. The Internet Explorer team focused on improving support for HTML5, CSS3, SVG, XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, and the user interface featuring agility and "a clean new design".
Microsoft first announced Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009
Professional Developers Conference
Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference is a conference for software developers, normally Windows developers.It covers new and upcoming technology from Microsoft, and so only occurs in the years when there is something new to talk about...
and spoke mainly about how it takes advantage of hardware acceleration in DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
to improve the performance of web applications and improve the quality of web typography
Web typography
Web typography refers to the use of fonts on the World Wide Web. When HTML was first created, font faces and styles were controlled exclusively by the settings of each Web browser. There was no mechanism for individual Web pages to control font display until Netscape introduced the tag in 1995,...
.
Later, Microsoft announced that they had joined the W3C's SVG Working Group
SVG Working Group
The SVG Working Group is a working group created by the World Wide Web Consortium to address the need for an alternative to the PostScript document format...
, which sparked speculation that Internet Explorer 9 will support the SVG W3C recommendation
W3C recommendation
A W3C Recommendation is the final stage of a ratification process of the World Wide Web Consortium working group concerning a technical standard. This designation signifies that a document has been subjected to a public and W3C-member organization's review. It aims to standardise the Web technology...
. This was proven to be true at MIX 10, where they demonstrated support for basic SVG markup and improved support for HTML5. They also announced that they would increase the support greatly by the time the first Internet Explorer 9 Beta was released. The Internet Explorer team also introduced the new JavaScript engine for 32-bit Internet Explorer 9, codenamed Chakra, which uses Just-in-time compilation
Just-in-time compilation
In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...
to execute JavaScript as native code. In mid-September 2011, the Acid3 test was revised to remove a few "antiquated and unusual" tests and as a result IE9 now passes the test with a score of 100/100
At MIX 10, the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured support for CSS3 and SVG, a new JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
engine called Chakra, and a score of 55/100 on the Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....
test, up from 20/100 for Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available...
. On May 5, 2010, the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 68/100 on the Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....
test and faster performance on the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark
Sunspider
Sunspider can stand for:* SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, a system to benchmark the speed of JavaScript engines.* Solifugae an order of Arachnid , commonly called sun spiders....
than the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On June 23, 2010, the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 83/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. The third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview also includes support for HTML5 audio, video, and canvas tags, and WOFF. On August 4, 2010, the fourth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which features a score of 95/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On September 15, 2010, the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta was released alongside Platform Preview 5, featuring a new user interface. In contrast to the previews, the Beta replaces any previously installed version of Internet Explorer. The sixth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on October 28, 2010, and includes support for CSS3 2D transforms and HTML5 semantic elements. The seventh Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on November 17, 2010, and features better JavaScript performance.
These previews were not full builds of Internet Explorer 9, as they were for testing the latest version of the Trident
Trident (layout engine)
Trident is the name of the layout engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer.It was first introduced with the release of Internet Explorer version 4.0 in October 1997; it has been steadily upgraded and remains in use today...
layout engine. They were for web developers to send feedback on the improvements made, functioned in parallel with any other installed browsers, and were previews of the renderer technology only, containing minimalistic user interfaces and lacking traditional interface elements such as an address bar and navigation buttons. Microsoft updated these previews approximately every eight weeks.
On November 23, 2010, two updates for the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta were released. KB2448827 brings improvements to reliability and fixes stability issues from the previous beta release. There are not much details of resolved issues disclosed by Microsoft. Moreover, KB2452648 resolves the in-built feedback issue with Internet Explorer 9 and the latest version of Windows Live Sign-in Assistant. These updates can be fetched from Windows Update
Windows Update
Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed components, including Internet Explorer...
or the Microsoft Download Center website. On the same day, Internet Explorer build 9.0.8027.6000 based on Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 7 was leaked. On February 10, 2011, the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate and Platform Preview 8 were released. The Release Candidate version featured improved performance, a Tracking Protection feature, a refined UI, support for more web standards, and other improvements.
The final version of Internet Explorer 9 was publicly released on March 14, 2011 during the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
(SXSW) music and film festival in Austin, Texas.
User Interface
Internet Explorer 9 includes significant alterations to its user interface when compared with previous versions. These include:- Pinned Sites: Integrates with the Windows 7 taskbar to make web site experience more like an application where users may "pin" a site and then return to it later like a shortcut. In the release candidate, users can pin a site and add more homepages to that site (e.g. pin FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and add TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
as another homepage to that pinned site, so it would become a social program) - Security-enabled Download Manager: Manages file transfers and can pause and resume downloads and informs if a file may be malicious
- Enhanced Tabs and Tab Page: the new tab page can show most visited sites, and tabs are shown next to the address bar (there is an option to have a separate row, like in Internet Explorer 8Internet Explorer 8Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available...
) with the feature of closing an inactive tab. - Add-on Performance Advisor: Shows which third-party add-ons may be slowing down browser performance and then allows the option to disable or remove them
- Compact user interface.
JavaScript engine
Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit) features a faster JavaScript engine than Internet Explorer 8's, internally known as Chakra. Chakra has a separate background thread for compiling JavaScript. Windows runs that thread in parallel on a separate core when one is available. Compiling in the background enables users to keep interacting with webpages while Internet Explorer 9 generates even faster code. By running separately in the background, this process can take advantage of modern multi-core machines.In Microsoft's preliminary SunSpider benchmarks for the third 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, it outperformed the Internet Explorer 8 engine by a factor of 10 and also outperformed the newest Firefox 4.0 pre-release. Microsoft provided information that its new javascript engine uses dead code elimination
Dead code elimination
In compiler theory, dead code elimination is a compiler optimization to remove code which does not affect the program results. Removing such code has two benefits: it shrinks program size, an important...
optimization for faster performance, which included a small section of code in the SunSpider test as dead code. Robert Sayre, a Mozilla developer investigated this further, showing that Internet Explorer 9's preview 3 dead code elimination had bugs, providing test cases exposing these bugs resulting in wrong compilation.
After its final release, 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 has been tested to be the leading mainstream browser in the Sunspider performance test.
The engine significantly improves support for ECMA-262: ECMAScript
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
Language Specification standard, including features new to the recently finalized Fifth Edition of ECMA-262 (often abbreviated ES5). The Internet Explorer 9 browser release scored only 3 faults from 10440 tests in the Test262 Ecmascript conformace test (Ver. 0.6.2 5-Apr-2011) created by Ecma International
Ecma International
Ecma International is an international, private non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association changed its name to reflect the organization's global reach and activities...
.
The 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 9, which is not the default browser even on 64-bit systems, does not have the JIT compiler and performs up to 4 times slower.
DOM
DOMDocument Object Model
The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...
improvements include:
- DOM Traversal and Range
- Full DOM L2 and L3 events
-
getComputedStylefrom DOM Style -
DOMContentLoaded
CSS
Internet Explorer 9 has improved Cascading Style SheetsCascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
(CSS) support. The Internet Explorer 9 implementation report, which was created using Internet Explorer 9 Beta, shows Internet Explorer 9 passing 97.7% of all tests on the W3C CSS 2.1 test suite. This is the highest pass rate amongst CSS 2.1 implementation reports submitted to W3C.
CSS3 improvements include support for the following modules:
- CSS3 2D Transforms
- CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders
- CSS3 Color
- CSS3 Fonts
- CSS3 Media Queries
- CSS3 Namespaces
- CSS3 Values and Units
- CSS3 Selectors
HTML5 Media
Internet Explorer 9 includes support for the HTML5 video and audio tags.The audio tag will include native support for the MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
and AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
codecs, while the video tag
HTML5 video
HTML5 video is an element introduced in the HTML5 draft specification for the purpose of playing videos or movies, partially replacing the object element...
will natively support H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
. Support for other video formats, such as WebM
WebM
WebM is an audio-video format designed to provide a royalty-free, open video compression format for use with HTML5 video. The project's development is sponsored by Google....
, will require third-party plugins.
HTML5 Canvas
Internet Explorer 9 includes support for the HTML5 canvas tag.HTML5 Inline SVG support
The first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview has support for:- Methods of embedding: inline HTML, inline XHTML,
- Structure: , , , ,
- Shapes: , , , , , ,
- Text
- Filling, Stroking, (CSS3) Color
- DOML2 Core and SVGDOM
- Events
- Presentation Attributes and CSS Styling
- Transform definitions:
translate,skewX,skewY,scale,rotate
SVG elements that are supported in the Platform Preview are fully implemented. Elements that exist in the Platform Preview have corresponding SVGDOM support and can be styled with CSS/presentation attributes.
The final build of Internet Explorer 9 also supports:
- Methods of embedding: , , , css image, .svgz
- Gradients and Patterns
- Clipping, Masking, and Compositing
- Cursor, Marker
- Remainder of Text, Transforms, Events
Web typography
Internet Explorer was the first browser to support web fonts through the@font-face rule, but only supported the Embedded OpenTypeEmbedded OpenType
Embedded OpenType fonts are a compact form of OpenType fonts designed by Microsoft for use as embedded fonts on web pages. These files usually use the extension ".eot"....
(EOT) format, and lacked support for parts of the CSS3 fonts module. Internet Explorer 9 completed support for the CSS3 fonts module and added WOFF
Web Open Font Format
The Web Open Font Format is a font format for use in web pages. It was developed during 2009 and is in the process of being standardized as a recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium Web Fonts Working Group....
support.
Navigation Timings
Internet Explorer 9 implements the new W3C Navigation Timings format. Microsoft has been a part of creating this format during the development of Internet Explorer 9.Tracking Protection
Internet Explorer 9 includes a Tracking Protection feature which improves upon Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Filtering. Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Filtering blocked third-party content using an XML list which had to be imported or automatically built a list by observing third-party servers that users kept interacting with as they browsed the web, and once a server showed up more than a set number of times, InPrivate Filtering would block future connections to itInternet Explorer 9 supports two methods of tracking protection. The primary method is through the use of Tracking Protection Lists (TPL) which are now supplied by internet privacy
Internet privacy
Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information or non-PII information such as a...
-related organizations or companies. Tracking Protection by default remains on once enabled, unlike InPrivate Filtering which had to be enabled each time Internet Explorer 8 started. When a TPL is selected, Internet Explorer 9 blocks or allows third-party URI downloads based on rules in the TPL. Users can create their personal TPL's or select a TPL supplied by a third party.
The other method is the use of a Do Not Track header
Do not track header
The do not track header is a proposed HTTP header field that would request a web application to disable their tracking of a user. The "Do Not Track" standard was created by researchers at Stanford University and is under discussion in the United States Congress and the Federal Trade Commission...
and DOM property. Browser requests from Internet Explorer 9 include this header whenever a TPL is selected. Websites that follow this header should not deliver tracking mechanisms in their websites. At the moment following this header is a voluntary code of conduct but this method could in future be enforced by government legislation.
These tracking protection methods were submitted to W3C for standardization.
Malware protection
Internet Explorer 9 uses layered protection against malware. It uses technical measures to protect its memory like the DEPData Execution Prevention
Data Execution Prevention is a security feature included in modern operating systems.It is known to be available in Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems and is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region. This helps...
/NSX protection, Safe Exception handlers (SafeSEH) and ASLR
Address space layout randomization
Address space layout randomization is a computer security method which involves randomly arranging the positions of key data areas, usually including the base of the executable and position of libraries, heap, and stack, in a process's address space.- Benefits :Address space randomization hinders...
protection used in Internet Explorer 8.
In addition to those existing forms of memory protection
Memory protection
Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that has not been allocated to it. This prevents a bug within a process from affecting...
, Internet Explorer 9 now opts-in to SEHOP (Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection) which works by validating the integrity of the exception handling chain before dispatching exceptions. This helps ensure that structured exception handling cannot be used as an exploit vector, even when running outdated browser add-ons that have not been recompiled to take advantage of SafeSEH.
In addition, Internet Explorer 9 is compiled with the new C++ compiler provided with Visual Studio 2010. This compiler includes a feature known as Enhanced GS, also known as Stack Buffer Overrun
Stack buffer overflow
In software, a stack buffer overflow occurs when a program writes to a memory address on the program's call stack outside of the intended data structure; usually a fixed length buffer....
Detection, which helps prevent stack buffer overruns by detecting stack corruption and avoiding execution if such corruption is encountered.
Internet Explorer 8 used SmartScreen technology, which, according to Microsoft, was successful against phishing or other malicious sites and in blocking of socially engineered
Social engineering (security)
Social engineering is commonly understood to mean the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information...
malware. In Internet Explorer 9, the protection against malware downloads is extended with SmartScreen Application Reputation. This warns downloaders if they are downloading an application without a safe reputation from a site that does not have a safe reputation.
In late 2010, the results of browser malware testing undertaken by NSS labs were published. The study looked at the browser's capability to prevent users following socially engineered
Social engineering (security)
Social engineering is commonly understood to mean the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information...
links of a malicious nature and downloading malicious software. It did not test the browser's ability to block malicious web pages or code.
According to NSS, Internet Explorer 9 blocked 99% of malware downloads compared to 90% for Internet Explorer 8 that does not have SmartScreen Application Reputation feature.
In early 2010, similar tests gave Internet Explorer 8 an 85% passing grade, the 5% improvement being attributed to "continued investments in improved data intelligence". By comparison, the same research showed that Chrome 6, Firefox 3.6 and Safari 5, which all rely on Google's Safe Browsing Service, scored 6%, 19% and 11%, respectively. Opera 10 scored 0%, failing to "detect any of the socially engineered malware samples".
Manufacturers of other browsers criticized the test, focusing upon the lack of transparency of URLs tested and the lack of consideration of layered security
Layered security
Layered security, also known as layered defense, describes the practice of combining multiple mitigating security controls to protect resources and data....
additional to the browser, with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
commenting that "The report itself clearly states that it does not evaluate browser security related to vulnerabilities in plug-ins or the browsers themselves", and Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
commenting that the results appeared "odd that they received no results from our data providers" and that "social malware protection is not an indicator of overall browser security".
Internet Explorer 9's dual-pronged approach to blocking access to malicious URLs—SmartScreen Filter to block bad URLs, and Application Reputation to detect untrustworthy executables—provides the best socially engineered malware blocking of any stable browser version. Internet Explorer 9 blocked 92 percent of malware with its URL-based filtering, and 100 percent with Application-based filtering enabled. Internet Explorer 8, in second place, blocked 90 percent of malware. Tied for third place were Safari 5, Chrome 10, and Firefox 4, each blocking just 13 percent. Bringing up the rear was Opera 11, blocking just 5 percent of malware.
User agent string
Due to technical improvements of the browser, the Internet Explorer developer team decided to change the user agentUser agent
In computing, a user agent is a client application implementing a network protocol used in communications within a client–server distributed computing system...
(UA) string. The
Mozilla/4.0 token was changed to Mozilla/5.0 to match the user agent strings of other recent browsers and to indicate that Internet Explorer 9 is more inter operable than previous versions. The Trident/4.0 token was likewise changed to Trident/5.0. Because long, extended UA strings cause compatibility issues, Internet Explorer 9's default UA string does not include .NET.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
identifiers or other "pre-platform" and "post-platform" tokens that were sent by previous versions of the browser. The extended string is still available to websites via the browser's .userAgent property, and is sent when a web page page is displayed in compatibility mode
Compatibility mode (browser)
Compatibility mode is a feature of Internet Explorer , a web browser, from version 8 onwards.-IE8:Internet Explorer 8 was promoted by Microsoft as having stricter adherence to W3C described web standards than Internet Explorer 7. As a result, as in every IE version before it, some percentage of web...
.
| Operating system | IE7 compatibility view? | User agent string | Extended string? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 | Yes | Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0) |
Yes |
| Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 | No | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0) |
No |
| Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 | Yes | Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0) |
Yes |
| Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 | No | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0) |
No |
Extensibility
In Internet Explorer 9, the extensibility mechanisms for Browser Helper Objects (BHOs)Browser Helper Object
A Browser Helper Object is a DLL module designed as a plugin for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to provide added functionality. BHOs were introduced in October 1997 with the release of version 4 of Internet Explorer. Most BHOs are loaded once by each new instance of Internet Explorer...
and toolbar
Toolbar
In a graphical user interface, on a computer monitor, a toolbar is a GUI widget on which on-screen buttons, icons, menus, or other input or output elements are placed. Toolbars are seen in office suites, graphics editors, and web browsers...
s remain the same. Not loading BHOs or toolbars improves startup time, but limits the ability of developers to augment the user experience through these extensibility mechanisms.
Removed features
- Separate search box
- Security zone information and Protected Mode status, progress bar, and other status bar elements except for the Zoom button
- Tab list menu button (Ctrl+Shift+Q)
- Page title from title bar
- Large icons on command bar
- Option to entirely disable ClearType for Internet Explorer only
- Support for DirectX page transitions
Release candidate
A release candidate was launched on February 10, 2011 in San Francisco. New features since the last beta version were tracking protection and use of hardware accelerated graphics, and improvements included faster performance and more support for emerging HTML5 standards.Noting that according to Net Applications
Net Applications
Net Applications is a web analytics firm. The company is commonly known in the web browser development and technology news communities for its global market share statistics.-Net Applications History:...
, Internet Explorer's share fell to 56% in January 2011, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
quoted Microsoft's claims that Internet Explorer 9 is "playing catch up, but it leapfrogs everything" and "you are seeing innovation after innovation that other folks are catching up to."
In The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
, Tim Anderson said Internet Explorer 9 was Microsoft's answer to the fall in Internet Explorer's market share (from 68.5% in July 2008 to 46% in January 2011, according to StatCounter
StatCounter
StatCounter is a web traffic analysis tool. Access to basic services is free and advanced services can cost between $9 and $119 a month. The company is based in Dublin. The statistics from StatCounter are used to compute web usage share for example....
). He felt it was "fast and polished", a "remarkable improvement" over version 8, noting "superb" development tools and "real and significant" support for HTML5, though "not as comprehensive as the company's publicity implies." However, configuration options are "strewn all over the user interface", and the "distinctive and excellent" ActiveX
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
filtering and Tracking Protection
Web visitor tracking
Web visitor tracking is the analysis of visitor behaviour on a website. Analysis of an individual visitor's behaviour may be used to provide that visitor with options or content that relates to their implied preferences; either during a visit or in the future...
features might be "perplexing for less technical users." Having reached release candidate status eleven months after it was originally announced at the March 2010 MIX conference
MIX (Microsoft)
MIX is a Microsoft conference held annually for web developers and designers at which Microsoft showcases upcoming web technologies. The conference is held each spring at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas...
, "Microsoft's development process is too slow." The new version is "a good modern browser" but "the competition is moving faster."
Computing
Computing (magazine)
Computing is a weekly newspaper/magazine published by Incisive Media for IT managers and professionals in the United Kingdom., Computings circulation was verified by BPA Worldwide as 115,431.-History:...
observed that "the feature set has piled up" since development began, with recent changes including "a completely rejigged JavaScript engine, and far better web standards support." It reported that Internet Explorer 9 RC ranked above Firefox, slightly above Safari, and below Chrome and Opera on Futuremark
Futuremark
Futuremark Oy is a Finnish software development company, that produces computer benchmark applications for home users and businesses. Company headquarters and R&D department are located in Espoo, Finland...
's Peacekeeper browser benchmark. Internet Explorer 9 scored 95% on the unofficial Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....
standards test.
Michael Muchmore's first impressions in PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
were broadly positive, praising features of the InPrivate mode (which "I'm surprised other browser makers haven't included") and concluding that Internet Explorer 9's tracking protection was "more flexible and comprehensive" than Mozilla's. The review reported that Internet Explorer 9 "now wins the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark" and had achieved "a hefty improvement" on Google's JavaScript benchmark – though it was still far behind Chrome 9. However "in normal browsing, I was hard pressed to see a [performance] difference between Chrome and Internet Explorer." The release candidate was also "perfectly" compatible with far more sites than the beta, but there are still issues with some sites because their developers are not yet testing with the new browser. The RC scores 4 out of 5 ("very good") for now.
Final release
On its first day of commercial availability, Internet Explorer 9 was downloaded over 2.35 million times.Blogging his March 2011 performance tests for ZDNet
ZDNet
ZDNet is a business technology news website published by CBS Interactive, along with TechRepublic and SmartPlanet. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991 as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication owned by CNET...
, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes concluded that Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
10, Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit) Final Release, Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
11.01 and Firefox 4's Release candidate were "pretty evenly matched.... Microsoft has worked hard on IE, taking it from being the slowest in the pack to one of the fastest. Bottom line, I really don’t think that JavaScript performance is an issue any more, and certainly in real-world testing it’s hard to see a difference between the browsers."
On 31 October 2011, PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
ranked Internet Explorer 9 as #19 on its 100 Best Products of 2011. The other web browser listed was Maxthon
Maxthon
Maxthon is a free web browser for Microsoft Windows. The latest release, Maxthon 3, supports both the Trident and the WebKit rendering engines....
3.1, a hybrid browser based on Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. PC World praised for its performance.
Mobile version
At the February 2011 Mobile World CongressMobile World Congress
The GSMA Mobile World Congress is the combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent Chief Executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world...
, Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
announced a major update to Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
due towards the end of 2011, which will include a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 that supports the same web standards (e.g. HTML5) and hardware accelerated graphics as the PC version. Microsoft demonstrated hardware-accelerated performance of a fish-tank demo using a development build of mobile Internet Explorer 9 compared with slow performance on the November 2010 iOS 4.2.1 RTM of Safari on iPhone 4.
See also
- Browser warsBrowser warsBrowser wars is a metaphorical term that refers to competitions for dominance in usage share in the web browser marketplace. The term is often used to denote two specific rivalries: the competition that saw Microsoft's Internet Explorer replace Netscape's Navigator as the dominant browser during...
- Comparison of web browsersComparison of web browsersThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.-Historical web browsers:...
- List of web browsers
- Timeline of web browsers
- Usage share of web browsersUsage share of web browsersThe usage share of a web browser is the proportion, often expressed as a percentage, of users of all web browsers who use that particular browser. This figure can only be estimated, typically by determining the proportion of visitors to a group of websites that use a particular web browser...
External links
- Beauty of the Web: Showcasing Internet Explorer 9 &ndash a Microsoft website that showcases Internet Explorer 9 in general
- Build My Pinned Site – a Microsoft website that teaches how to use Internet Explorer 9's site pinning capabilities
- Your Browser Matters – a Microsoft website that advertises Internet Explorer 9 security features
- Internet Explorer Test Drive – a Microsoft website that features web browser benchmark tests
- Internet Explorer 9 on Microsoft Wave website